Chapter 2
MICAH
The woman on camera—Cami something, I’d already forgotten her last name—delivered her lines with technical precision. Every word was clear, every gesture calculated, every expression exactly what you’d expect from someone who’d studied the craft.
A true professional.
And an absolute snooze fest.
I nudged Doris’s knee under the table. It was the signal to put all of us out of our misery.
“That was great,” Doris said. “We’ll be in touch.”
The actress beamed at me. She thought she’d nailed it. Maybe by most standards, she had. But I needed more than fine. I needed magic. And I knew the industry and refused to feel guilty that she wasn’t going to get the part.
The door closed behind her and I immediately turned to Doris, my casting director. “Hard no.”
“You didn’t even want to see her do it again?
” Doris raised an eyebrow, her pen hovering over her notepad.
“She’s hot right now. Dubbed one of the rising stars.
You can get her cheap. When she lands on the A-list, people are going to look for her old work.
You’ll get another bump. Streaming numbers get high and it promotes everything you do after. ”
I understood the logic. Obviously. My father pretty much laid the foundation. He launched hundreds of careers in his lifetime. He had an eye for talent. He didn’t have to ask an A-lister to be in one of his movies—they begged him for the chance.
“She’s not the one,” I said.
Toby looked up from his phone, his young face bright with the kind of energy that made me feel ancient at twenty-seven. “Want me to make notes on why? For the callback list?”
I’d poached Toby from my brother, Hollis. Toby’s skills were not being maximized doing thirty-second Instagram reels for Hollis’s B Well business.
Toby wanted to be in movies. Well, not in movies, but directing them. We were both aspiring directors. I had a bit more experience and decided to take the kid under my wing. Breathless would be our first big project. Everything had to be perfect, including the actress we put in the role.
Jack Montana would bring in the viewers, but we needed an actress to really sell it.
And that chick wasn’t it.
I stood, needing to move, needing to do something with the restless anxiety crawling under my skin. “She’s technically good, but there’s no spark. She’s playing the role instead of being the role.”
Doris made a notation. She’d worked with me long enough not to argue when I had a strong instinct about someone. “We have a room full of hopefuls, but I’ve seen their resumes and I’m just not sure they’re going to be what you want. If you could give me a better idea, I could find it.”
I groaned. “I don’t know specifics. I just know that what we’ve seen isn’t it.”
She sighed. “You sound like your father.”
“I’m going to take that as a compliment given how successful he is. He knows how to pick the right people for a role.”
I could have asked Dad for his advice, but considering I was making this movie with a different studio than Blackwell Studios, which Dad founded and still ran, I doubted he would be too keen to give me pointers.
Besides, this was my project. My script. I did the work to get it greenlit. My name would be on the marquee, and if I failed, everyone would call me a nepo baby.
But when I topped the box office, they’d see it was because I had talent.
On top of that, they would feel my commitment to storytelling.
Audiences deserved excellence, and the movie-going experience wasn’t what it used to be.
Somehow, on my first director debut, I would reach that audience and pull them into the narrative.
I’d leave an impression, the way only a great movie could.
“I don’t want someone that’s already pigeon-holed,” I said.
Doris had six files spread out on the table in front of her. “That eliminates her. She is known as a mean girl child actress.”
“Not her.”
I had two weeks until we started shooting. Jack Montana’s schedule was locked in, the crew was hired, the locations were secured, and I still didn’t have my female lead.
This was exactly the kind of disaster my father would point to as evidence I wasn’t ready. That I should have stayed in his shadow a little longer before striking out on my own.
I pushed the thought away. I’d find her. I had to.
“Send in the next one,” I said, dropping back into my chair.
Toby jumped up, practically vibrating with excitement to be useful, and slipped out the door.
“You’re going to find her,” Doris said quietly. “If we don’t find her today, I’ll widen the net. You know I’ve got scouts everywhere. If you could just give me a few more clues. Girl next door? Powerful? Not traditionally pretty?”
Whoever my leading lady was, she was more than a few check boxes on a scouting card. She had to have presence. Confidence. Strength. Softness. Grit. Grief. She had to be someone who knew how it felt to be in love… and betrayed. How could I get all of that on a checklist?
“We’re running out of time,” I said.
“You found Jack Montana’s stunt double in four hours when the original guy broke his ankle. You have good instincts, Micah. Trust them.”
I wanted to. God, I wanted to.
But the weight of this production sat heavy on my shoulders. This wasn’t just another film—this was the one that would prove I could deliver a commercial hit.
No pressure.
The door opened and Toby stepped back in, holding it wide.
I slumped back in my chair, muscles aching from sitting for so long, and leaned back, arching over the back rest and stretching with my arms over my head.
Doris jotted a few notes down on the paper beside her.
Toby’s chuckle filled the room, followed by the sound of heels clicking on the floor.
And in came the next girl.
She was petite in every sense of the word, except for her curves, which were accentuated in her perfectly tailored black pantsuit.
She looked every bit the part of high-powered CEO, down to the pointed toe of her heel, the glossy blonde hair, and the tilt of her chin.
She wasn’t the tall, leggy actress I thought I wanted.
She didn’t have the model-esque quality people expected of a leading lady.
She didn’t need it.
I saw the steel underneath the polished exterior.
She strode further into the room and stopped before us.
“Hi,” she said with a tentative smile.
Even her voice had that quality I’d been searching for. Strong but feminine. Approachable but authoritative.
She had the boss girl thing going on, but she also looked… soft. Pretty. An easy face for an audience to fall in love with, that was for sure.
“Hi.” I realized I was staring and forced myself to look down at the paperwork Doris slid in front of me. “You’re… Grace Stone?”
“That’s me.”
I scanned her resume. Sparse. A few guest spots on television, nothing major. No film work at all.
That should have been a red flag. Jack Montana was a massive star and pairing him with an unknown was risky. The studio would push back.
But I couldn’t stop looking at her gorgeous blue eyes as she scanned her surroundings, pausing to smile at Doris and me individually, and offering another smile to Toby, who blushed. Rookie.
“Whenever you’re ready,” I said, nodding to the camera Toby had positioned in the corner.
She took a breath, licked her plump lips, and began.
The character was supposed to be a tech CEO caught in a conspiracy she didn’t fully understand, fighting to save her company while staying one step ahead of people who wanted her dead.
Grace Stone became that woman. Her posture shifted from beautiful young actress to business mogul in an instant.
I found myself leaning forward, completely absorbed. Beside me, I could feel Doris go still. Even Toby had stopped fidgeting.
The room had shrunk to just Grace and the words coming out of her mouth.
She delivered the dialogue without a single stumble. She devoured the script, the cadence of her voice dancing around my head while the emotions built within her and held me in a trance. When she finished, the silence stretched for several heartbeats.
“That was…” I cleared my throat, trying to find something professional to say when what I wanted to do was offer her the role on the spot. “That was really great. Thank you.”
Her shoulders dropped slightly—relief or disappointment, I couldn’t tell. “Thank you for seeing me.”
They all said that, but I got the feeling she actually meant it. Like she was happy to have the chance to try for the role.
“We’ll be in touch,” I said.
She nodded, gave us all a small smile, and turned to leave.
I watched her walk out, watched the door close behind her, and then I was on my feet.
“That’s her,” I said, turning to face Doris and Toby. “That’s our lead.”
Toby practically bounced in his seat. “Right? I thought so too. She was incredible.”
Doris was already making notes, but I could see the smile tugging at her lips. “She’s got almost no experience, Micah. The studio might not approve.”
“I don’t care. She’s exactly what this role needs.
That’s what I was looking for without the words.
” I paced to the window, my mind already racing ahead.
“She can hold her own against Jack. She’s got the look, the presence, and she can actually act.
And lack of experience might work in our favor.
She doesn’t have any bad habits from other directors or co-stars yet. She’s a canvas.”
An incredible one.
“No argument from me,” Doris said. “I’m just warning you that you’ll have to fight for this one.”
I turned back to face them both. “Then I’ll fight.”
Toby was grinning like I’d just told him Christmas came early. “So we’re offering it to her?”
“We’re offering it to her,” I confirmed. “Call her agent. I want her signed by tomorrow.”
Doris nodded, already flipping through her contacts. “I’ll draft the offer letter. But, Micah, an unknown with no film credits? Jack may not approve either.”
“Jack’s contract says nothing about him having any opinion on our casting decisions. He doesn’t have a say,” I said.
“He’s a diva,” Doris said.
I ran a hand through my hair, the familiar restlessness settling back in. “This isn’t his set. Grace walked in here and owned the room without trying. That’s what Jack needs to play off of—someone who can match him without shrinking. If I have to fight the studio, I’ll fight.”
My thoughts circled back to those blue eyes and the way she’d delivered every line like the stakes were real.
She’d looked at me for that split second before starting.
Something had shifted in the air I couldn’t quite name.
Professional interest, sure. But underneath it, a pull I had no business examining on day one of casting.
I grabbed my jacket off the back of the chair. “I’m heading out to clear my head. Tell her agent we’ll meet tomorrow morning. And Doris? No callbacks. She’s the one.”